Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Drura Parrish, President of Xometry (Part 4)

Drura Parrish: When you look at all of the beautiful machines that are sitting across the manufacturing floors in the United States, think about how this zooms into the broader trend here. Let’s just say, the greatest e-commerce model that we know right now is Amazon who’s trying to sell things and to get to people’s doors in under a day. But who’s going to make all the things that go to the companies? They put the things in boxes to get to Amazon to put on people’s doors.

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Drura Parrish, President of Xometry (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What are the new things that are getting designed and manufactured in America today?

Drura Parrish: We’re still at the cutting edge of automotive and automotive components in electronics, hardware, and mechanical aerospace and all the supply chain that’s going into that.

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Drura Parrish, President of Xometry (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What’s the geographical scope of your business?

Drura Parrish: When you think about our geographic diversification, it follows along the pockets of industrial production in the United States. So why have suppliers concentrated around where planes are getting made? Why have suppliers concentrated around where automotive companies are assembling and making things? Likewise, our distribution facilities within the e-commerce portion are located where we have the greatest proximity to those distribution points.

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Drura Parrish, President of Xometry (Part 1)

Drura talks about the cutting-edge of American manufacturing and how e-commerce is impacting it. Superb interview.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Xometry.

Drura Parrish: I’m the President of Xometry Supplies. Xometry is a fascinating company that’s working very fast and at scale to solve one of the biggest problems in the world, which is how do we make more things more efficiently and more profitably across the supply chain.

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Rafael Zakinov, CEO of Ruby Has (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What is the cost implication of all this? What does it cost to deliver this level of service?

Rafael Zakinov: By working with a third-party logistics provider, there’s obviously a lot of advantage. Amazon has the advantage because they’re a goliath. A startup might not have that capital and scale to achieve multiple warehouses and conveyor systems. The cost is mitigated by pooling it together amongst other brands. It’s relatively inexpensive compared to if you try to do it yourself.

Sramana Mitra: Prime gives an incredible level of service with their unlimited free shipping based on subscription. Cost-wise, it’s formidable to compete with this. >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Rafael Zakinov, CEO of Ruby Has (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: If an e-commerce vendor is trying to choose between you and another third-party logistics vendor versus Amazon, what is the case for choosing you? What is Amazon lacking?

Rafael Zakinov: First of all, Amazon does not provide any customization to the process. They don’t allow you to brand the packaging. Everything must ship in an Amazon box. In 2017, they did away with the option of paying an extra dollar for the use of a brown box. Amazon no longer gives you that ability. They’re really trying to do away with that whole third-party fulfillment. They want you to sell on their platform. Other marketplaces like Walmart don’t want you to ship in an Amazon-branded box.

Sramana Mitra: It’s the branding that is the key to choose another logistics provider. >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Rafael Zakinov, CEO of Ruby Has (Part 1)

Amazon is setting the bar very high for e-commerce merchants in terms of delivery. Read how the industry is responding.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Ruby Has.

Rafael Zakinov: I’m the Founder and CEO of Ruby Has Fulfillment. We’re an e-commerce-focused fulfillment company. We’re based out of Long Island, New York. We have locations throughout the United States servicing both coasts. We have come to be a real brand name amongst emerging B2C brands.

Sramana Mitra: What scale are you at? How many customers are using you? What size customers are you particularly suited to? >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: TrueCommerce CEO, Ross Elliott (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What are the broad trends that you see in your network?

Ross Elliott: The biggest single trend is, we see people beginning to recognize that they need to distribute their product both through traditional channels and through emerging channels. The overwhelming scenario is to go through more than one channel. Oftentimes, you’ll find an industrial manufacturer that sells only through distribution. That’s how it’s been done.

Consequently, that’s the way they continue to do it. Now, they’re beginning to think about selling their product either with direct to consumer, through Amazon, or other means to get the product out. How do I tie everything in so that I’m not intermediating the guys that have been with me >>>